What We Do: A Month in the Life of a Facilities Management Company

Do you know what a facilities management company does? You might be surprised by how much we do, and how varied the jobs are. We do those things that few other people ever think about. While every client has the same basic needs – HVAC, security, lighting, grounds-keeping, and such – every client requires a slightly different approach to fulfilling those needs. Even those needs vary from day-to-day. So to give you a better idea of what it is we do, we’ve taken a sampling of items from our employee newsletter from the last quarter. Our teams take a lot of pride in contributing to the newsletter and a peek will give you a sense of how varied and important the work of a facilities management team is.

Workspace Reconfiguration

In this case, our client wanted a spacious, modern workspace that included cubicles for an expanding team. The building space required major changes to meet the need. So we planned and managed the demolition, the structural work, the reconfiguration of the HVAC, lighting and electrical and, of course, the installation of the new surfaces and cubicles with an eye towards the overall ergonomics of the space. The result was exactly what they hoped for. Our client was happy and so were the new employees.

The Mystery of the Overheated Computer Room!

This past winter a computer room got too hot. When computers rooms get too hot, the equipment is at risk. The room had a chilling system – so this problem was not supposed to happen. We had to figure out what was going wrong. It turns out that the problem was caused by a few days of unexpectedly cold weather. The cold air shut down the chillers. We needed to solve the problem fast – long before we could reconfigure the entire system. The quick solution? We used a fan to blow cool air from another space into the room, while we found a more permanent solution for the over-chilled chiller. Disaster averted.

The Case of the Squeaky Air Handler

Most equipment manufacturers know that their parts will eventually need maintenance and repair. They design their equipment so that maintenance people can access the parts that will need to be replaced. Often they build in panels that can be unscrewed or other clever ways to get at the parts. In the case of the squeaky air handler, however, the manufacturer left something out. A bad ball bearing was making a huge racket, but the air handler was sealed up tight against leaks. No removable panels. Our team had to go in, open the sealed side of the handler, do the

repair and reseal it airtight. Tricky, but it had to be done.

The AV Team at the Archiving Conference

Sometimes our work calls for some lights, cameras and action! Among our cherished client list, we are proud to include the National Archives. The National Archives has quite a few special facilities needs. One of them is support for high-traffic events and conferences. In this case, the annual Archiving Conference of the Society for Imaging Science and Technology brought in experts from around the world and needed four days of audio-visual support. Our team supported the event, preparing the auditorium, the sound system, the cameras, and the speakers to ensure that everyone and their slides could be seen, heard and recorded. We even did the post-production work on the videos. Nice job team.

A Security Badge Swiping System Needed More Than a Reboot

Many of our clients have security badge systems. When one client’s badge swiping system went down, the building went on lockdown. We regained entry with the master key and immediately rebooted the system. That fixed part of the problem, but several entrances remained still locked. We called the manufacturer in who discovered that several badge terminals needed to be replaced. We worked with them to diagnose the problem, schedule the repairs and get the system properly running again quickly. The building was back to normal operations quickly.

Employee Learning and Development

We are only as good as our team – so continual learning and development is something we take seriously. Every quarter we put energy into building and recognizing the skills and commitment of our team members. In the first quarter of 2018 we did the following:

Attended a seminar on Electrical Safe Work Practices. This helps our team create and maintain safe environments and prevent hazards both for us and our clients.

We recognized 21 employees for their outstanding record on safety.

We recognized 16 employees for their accomplishments in the area of innovation and efficiency.